Hi Cliff I thought I'd tell you what the European feel is about Bush becoming president. First, I don't think Europeans care much about the separation of church and state. They do not know the extreme religiosity that exist here and many European countries have no separation at all. Sweden broke the bond just last year. It's simply not a big issue in Europe.

Other orders on the other hand, especially the "no more money to abortion clinics abroad" decision got a lot of attention and created a storm of protests. It is possible that the prime minister of Sweden, while being the chairman of the EU, will issue a formal protest with regards to this decision.

The big thing however has to do with the insane idea of a missile defence. I haven't seen anyone in Europe supporting this idea and everyone I know who is familiar with the issue vehemently denounces it. I think that our dear Bush Jr is the greatest threat to world peace since WWII.

I personally cannot believe that Bush's SS bill will ever fly, I mean how could it? It's so obviously unconstitutional! Also, did you have a reference about Bush's statement that he wasn't going to give any money to the likes of Farrakhan and such. It seems to me that even Bush would be smart enough not to make such a comment. I can't even imagine a clearer violation of the first amendment, someone will surely challenge this insane bill.

So I called Americans United and they gave, as the context, Bush speaking with reporters on March 1, 2000, and as the primary source, the Austin American-Statesman for March 2, 2000, page A-9. I have updated the BushBLOQ with this information and a few more details.

I am wondering if the anti-separationist plan is designed to divert attention from the SS plan. I've seen this happen before, where a President wishes to push through a controversial bill and, to keep us busy, tosses out an extremely and fundamentally flawed bill -- that would never fly anyway -- just to keep the news focused on it. While Neil Armstrong was landing on the moon, Richard Nixon was busy rounding up a number of popular anti-Vietnam War protesters (check Joan Baez's comments on the "Woodstock" album and film). During his second appearance in Portland, Oregon, the Secret Service team of George Herbert Walker Bush (Senior) diverted the attention of several thousand protesters by having about 200 riot cops start running -- very visibly -- toward the far end of the building. Though nothing was happening, many of the protesters naturally followed the riot cops, and when this happened 200 more cops swooped in between what was by now two smaller groups rather than a single group.

But we cannot assume this thing won't fly: they put "In God We Trust" on our money, remember! And there's nothing we can do to take it off because the same hysteria which prevented anybody from objecting during the McCarthy Era still exists today. And even if this travesty could never possibly fly, we must spend our resources opposing it, or else next time it just might fly by default.

Cliff Walker
"Positive Atheism" Magazine
Five years of service to
people with no reason to believe